Holidays with a toddler can be stressful. I was worried how Rowan would do with the decorations, the tree and all of the events. However, my daughter is very visual, and she immensely enjoyed everything!
The Christmas Tree:
I know many people of young kids don't put up a tree, or hardly do any ornaments. Without trying to sound rude, the thought of not decorating irked me. My mom (who has been running her own preschool for 12 years) has a house full of decorations, and every kid who has been in her school has had to learn that they don't mess with the tree or decorations that are hung. I wanted to follow that with Rowan, and she did just fine! She LOVED the tree! We had a habit every morning we would do a countdown and turn on the tree lights. Every time we did it, her face would light up and she would gasp. CUTEST THING EVER!
Christmas Traditions we did with Rowan:
As a family, we are starting to build our little traditions. Every year we do Christmas cookies with our Finney cousins, which is so fun! Rowan is still pretty little to help, but she did what she could! We usually do a pasta dinner or pizza, plus a Christmas movie. It was so fun! We also go to see lights every year which is always fun! We also went to Breakfast with Santa, which is an event Elk Grove puts on. $5 gets you a pancake breakfast complete with you taking photos of your child with Santa. Truly a genius idea! We saved so much instead of going to the mall. Rowan shockingly wasn't afraid of Santa! We will definitely be adding this to our repertoire of Christmas traditions. We also participated in Mimi's Annual Preschool Christmas party, which was so fun! My mom is so cute with this tradition! We had a yummy brunch with Rowan's mates, along with a gift exchange!
A very Disney Christmas:
A HUGE thing we did was go to Disneyland! We went December 18-21st, right when it starts to get insane. This section deserves its own post, so I will keep it brief. We had a marvelous time! We had some trouble on our way (car battery died in Lodi) but once we got going, we didn't stop! We spend a a glorious time in the park. Of course, it wasn't perfect. Like most couples, hubby and I bickered every morning because we always left later than I would like. And naturally, a crazy busy park with a toddler isn't always easy. However, we made the most of it! My biggest regret was my constant worry about the weather. We ended up leaving a day early (my idea not hubby's) because we had heard the weather was supposed to be insane on the grapevine, and I was worried about it getting shut down. I just wish I hadn't worried so much about it, but I am a huge worrywart. However, we still had fun AND made it home safely, which was important.
Christmas Eve Eve:
Christmas Eve is very tricky for us, and sometimes very stressful. Both sides of our families celebrate Christmas Eve, because on the next day, my sister and sister in law celebrate with their other sides. Thankfully this year was pretty smooth in celebrations, and on the 23rd we celebrated with my family. However, that afternoon, Rowan randomly broke out in a 103 fever with no symptoms. Since my sister's house is basically my second house, we still did our celebrations, but poor Rowan was simply miserable, even with meds. I was so disappointed, because I wanted her to enjoy herself. I felt so bad for her! However, that's how life goes! We managed to still have a good time with our family! My sister made a yummy ham dinner, and we brought ice cream cake! Before presents, Ben (my brother in law) read the birth of Jesus from the book of Matthew. Such a beautiful reminder of the real reason for the season! We sure got spoiled by our precious family!
Christmas Eve:
On actual Christmas Eve, we spent it with our Potter side. Miraculously, Rowan's fever literally disappeared as fast as it came! Thank God! We brought dessert over and had a very yummy turkey dinner. Rowan wore her pretty Christmas dress and stole the show with our Potter family! We also got spoiled by our family! The Potter family has a tradition of playing the card game 31 and of course, they played a good couple of rounds! I used to play but since having baby, someone has to entertain her! However, she joined in on the fun too! Rowan conked out in the car for sure! We did make sure to leave Santa cookies and milk before Rowan went to bed!
Christmas morning:
Christmas morning began with our "tree lighting" countdown, with Rowan's same reaction, LOL! We had so much fun passing out gifts (complete with Christmas music in the background) and watching her open them. Hubby totally outdid himself in gifts and gave me way too much. So thankful for him! We have a tradition of big Christmas breakfast, so we had a ham and potato egg casserole. I also made orange breakfast rolls, per hubby's request. After our delicious meal, Rowan played for awhile and then took a really long nap, much to our delight, LOL! We have another tradition of watching at least 2-3 Christmas movies, so we fired up Home Alone. I hadn't seen that since I was little! After Rowan woke up, we ordered in dinner. Our traditional Christmas dinner is either Chinese or pizza. We did pizza this year and it was yummy! Rowan went to bed around 7:30, and we ended our night with junk food and Elf. What a perfect way to end the night!
If you stayed with me, wow, thank you!! I couldn't have asked for a better holiday with the ones that I love! Only 354 days till Christmas, LOL!!!
A very Disney Christmas:
A HUGE thing we did was go to Disneyland! We went December 18-21st, right when it starts to get insane. This section deserves its own post, so I will keep it brief. We had a marvelous time! We had some trouble on our way (car battery died in Lodi) but once we got going, we didn't stop! We spend a a glorious time in the park. Of course, it wasn't perfect. Like most couples, hubby and I bickered every morning because we always left later than I would like. And naturally, a crazy busy park with a toddler isn't always easy. However, we made the most of it! My biggest regret was my constant worry about the weather. We ended up leaving a day early (my idea not hubby's) because we had heard the weather was supposed to be insane on the grapevine, and I was worried about it getting shut down. I just wish I hadn't worried so much about it, but I am a huge worrywart. However, we still had fun AND made it home safely, which was important.
Christmas Eve Eve:
Christmas Eve is very tricky for us, and sometimes very stressful. Both sides of our families celebrate Christmas Eve, because on the next day, my sister and sister in law celebrate with their other sides. Thankfully this year was pretty smooth in celebrations, and on the 23rd we celebrated with my family. However, that afternoon, Rowan randomly broke out in a 103 fever with no symptoms. Since my sister's house is basically my second house, we still did our celebrations, but poor Rowan was simply miserable, even with meds. I was so disappointed, because I wanted her to enjoy herself. I felt so bad for her! However, that's how life goes! We managed to still have a good time with our family! My sister made a yummy ham dinner, and we brought ice cream cake! Before presents, Ben (my brother in law) read the birth of Jesus from the book of Matthew. Such a beautiful reminder of the real reason for the season! We sure got spoiled by our precious family!
Christmas Eve:
On actual Christmas Eve, we spent it with our Potter side. Miraculously, Rowan's fever literally disappeared as fast as it came! Thank God! We brought dessert over and had a very yummy turkey dinner. Rowan wore her pretty Christmas dress and stole the show with our Potter family! We also got spoiled by our family! The Potter family has a tradition of playing the card game 31 and of course, they played a good couple of rounds! I used to play but since having baby, someone has to entertain her! However, she joined in on the fun too! Rowan conked out in the car for sure! We did make sure to leave Santa cookies and milk before Rowan went to bed!
Christmas morning:
Christmas morning began with our "tree lighting" countdown, with Rowan's same reaction, LOL! We had so much fun passing out gifts (complete with Christmas music in the background) and watching her open them. Hubby totally outdid himself in gifts and gave me way too much. So thankful for him! We have a tradition of big Christmas breakfast, so we had a ham and potato egg casserole. I also made orange breakfast rolls, per hubby's request. After our delicious meal, Rowan played for awhile and then took a really long nap, much to our delight, LOL! We have another tradition of watching at least 2-3 Christmas movies, so we fired up Home Alone. I hadn't seen that since I was little! After Rowan woke up, we ordered in dinner. Our traditional Christmas dinner is either Chinese or pizza. We did pizza this year and it was yummy! Rowan went to bed around 7:30, and we ended our night with junk food and Elf. What a perfect way to end the night!
If you stayed with me, wow, thank you!! I couldn't have asked for a better holiday with the ones that I love! Only 354 days till Christmas, LOL!!!
